Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cheri goes bumping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVPzc3F4om4

Another fine day on West Glade!
Enjoy!
Cheri

John goes to Switzerland - February 2011







Well - even though we lived in London for 2 years, we never made it to ski in the Alps.  John had a work trip to France and the meeting was on a Friday.  He brought his skis and managed to spend Saturday at Engleberg Switzerland!  It was the first place he ever skied on Europe and he had a wonderful opportunity to revisit the place after all these years!

Enjoy!
John & Cheri

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Skiing Again!

Well, after a two year hiatus, Rabbit and Tigger are tearing up the slopes again. It has been really great to be back. We've seen so many of our long time friends and it feels really good to be back in our element again. Its been especially fun hearing about everyone's lives and all the neat things they have done over the last two years.













We've both gotten new skis...Stryker's for John and Burnin' Luv's for Cheri. Look out Killington!






Last weekend the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We took the opportunity to slow down and shoot a few images. Hope you enjoy the beauty as much as we do!













Enjoy!
Cheri & John

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Killington, VT

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Cozumel Mexico - December 4, 2010 - Paradise - Day 5 - Dive 8

Max depth of 40 Feet for a whopping 78 minutes!!


We jumped in with high hopes because if we had any chance to see sea horses, this was the place.  But, the lions seem to be eating the horses and everyone is upset about it.  Just to prove the depth of their anger, all the dive masters are now hunting the lions.  And so with each dive, there are more lions on the end of the gig.

At first I didn't catch on. Lions?  What lions in the sea and then slowly it dawned on me....the lion fish who were invading every corner of the earth with no known predators and a voracious appetite.  It was those lions that we being accused of eating the poor sea horses.  I don't know if it's true, but I do know that we didn't see any horses on this dive.

What we did see was spectacular in any case.  Paradise is not only home to the horses, but also to juveniles.  These are small fish and critters, just getting started in life.  We saw juvenile angels and all sorts of young fish that we couldn't identify because their coloration changes as they grow up.  Cheri saw her first mantis shrimp in the Atlantic.  He was small and running around with big eyes!

French Angel Intermediate Fish



 Pistol Shrimp

There were scorpion fish in many places sitting on the bottom waiting for an unsuspecting victim!  John got a cracking shot of one!


The baby king crabs were comfortably lodged in a yellow tipped anemone.  There were two in one anemone and boy we're they shy!


Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Cozumel Mexico - December 4, 2010 -Dalilia Mountains - Day 5 - Dive 7

We're diving again!  Yeah!  The only catch is hat we need to get ourselves down to the marina.  Ok...we'll bite....where's the marina?  All the way through town and before the hotel zone, you will find it. So, we loaded everything into our car and struck off.

Max depth of 75 Feet for about an hour

As we prepare to jump for the second to the last time, the sun breaks and the light pours into our beloved deep.  Check the air, check the weights, check the right hand release and go go go its time to dive!

Sploosh!  We're, a quick trio back to the boat to grab the cameras and we're on our way down!  Scan scan scan, no eagle rays in sight.  Down deeper we go.  Soon we are at the bottom and the hunt begins.  We see 3 HUGE bump headed Parrot Fish.


Another magical dive.  As I was enjoying the usual suspects, I noticed a sea urchin.  As I swim close to check it out I saw a flicker of white and black.  Could it be?  Ah indeed it was an adult drum fish!  These little drummers swim vigorously back and forth as they beat their drum.  He was lodged in between pink and orange coral which made a lovely backdrop for a video. 


There was a stunning gold cleaner shrimp on carpet anemone.  Cheri fiddled with the strobe until she got the perfectly lit shot she was craving. 



Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Cozumel Mexico - December 3, 2010 - El Nortes

Day 5
Breakfast is looking a bit sparse for Cheri as she sits with two meager tostada chips in front of her.  The guacamole has turned brown from oxidation and is no longer edible.  As John is munch in away on his bakery goodies from Chedaruai he says, "OK.  Let's get you some breakfast in town". Cheri says with glee, huevos rancheros!

They find a little cafe right next to the bakery and settle in for one of the best breakfasts they've had on the island.  the coffee has a tinge of cinnamon and on the menu is not only huevos ranchos, but divorced eggs!  That's one green and one red egg with ham on tortillas!  Yummy!

We stop in to see Blanca our dive connection.  She tells us what we already know, the port is still closed.  So we press a bit and say, well if the port opens later can we go night diving.  Much to our surprise she says yes! There is another couple at the Wyndham and they want to night dive too.  So the deal is struck, she'll call around 4.

Breakfast being done, it was time to explore. Since we've got the day ahead we decide to drive north on to a stretch of island we've never been to before.

The iguanas were amazing today!




And the thing to do on a non-dive day?  Drink margaritas at Mezcalitos!


 At 4:10 (that's 4'o clock Mexican time) Blanca rings the room.  She's says it likely to be ten more minutes before she knows for sure about the port.  But the local guys say no way, but they can't confirm until they get a call from Mexico City!  So I ask, are computers better than eye balls?  Why can't they just look outside.  Laughing, she tells me she'll call back in ten minutes, which I am sure will be twenty minutes and ends up being 35 minutes!  No matter - we were just hanging out.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Cozumel Mexico - December 2, 2010 - El Nortes

El Nortes....well it's that time of the year and its not uncommon that the wind will shift and you hear the dreaded words....El Nortes!  The wind will now blow from the North and the port will close.



That's OK with us.  We'll strike off for other adventures.


Wow - animals animals animals.  Punta Sur is always a good place to drive though.



We've been coming to Cozumel for years and in all that time we had never seen an owl.  We did today!  Cruising silently along a ditch scaring up prey.  As we watched, it scared a bird into flight then tipped upside down to grab it in mid flight.  Wow!



Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Cozumel Mexico - December 1, 2010 - The Life Unusual

It's probably no secret to any of you that John and Cheri are a different breed.  The photo below just typifies the extent to which that is true.  Most divers get with their buddies and then they swim along together looking at things.  Many of them swim the whole time they are underwater, rarely stopping to truly look at their surroundings.

Not Cheri!!

As you can see the other divers on the left side of the photo...look right and there she is....upside down and enjoying the deep like no other!!!


 Enjoy!
John





Cozumel Mexico - December 1, 2010 - El Cedral -Day 3 -Dive 6

Max depth of 55 Feet for about 70 minutes

This is a great site for seeing sharks and other big things.  Not us, we saw little things;little things that we rarely or had never seen before.  Jackpot!  Just what we came for!

There were gorgeous queen triggers who were curious and came to have their photo taken.


On this dive we got a shot of shrimp that we had never scene before. Anyone know what they are?  Cute for sure, but a name would be great!!




Enjoy!
Cheri & John